The efforts undertaken in the pursuit of economic growth often creates a negative impact on the environment. Therefore, sustainable development becomes a necessity that can not be avoided if the Indonesian people want to preserve natural resources and environment for future generations.
According to Prof. Ir. Arief Budiman, MS, D. Eng., there are some concepts related to sustainable development. However, multi-dimension and multi-interpretation condition made the experts agree to adopt the concept based on the Brundtland report. "The concept that is defined is that sustainable development is the development that meets the needs of the present without sacrificing the right of future generations to fulfill their needs," he said at the Senate Hall on Wednesday (5/1) when inaugurated as Professor of the Faculty of Engineering.
To reinforce this concept, in September 2000 as many as 189 countries, including Indonesia, signed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) at the Millennium Summit in New York. A total of eight goals were set to achieve by the MDGs by 2015, one of which is to ensure the supporting capacity of the environment by integrating sustainable development principles in each country’s policy.
Arief said that this concept is very good. However, its implementation often encountered many obstacles. The rate of development is often accompanied by environmental degradation. "This is because the implementation of development tends to pursue economic growth and is short-term oriented so that the negative impact not only affects the environment, but also future generations," he said.
Therefore, says the man born in Pati, June 28, 1960, a guide is needed that is able to direct every decision-maker to implement rational natural resources policies in accordance with current needs without reducing the needs of future generations. Therefore, it is notable that the responsibility for the management of natural resources is not only a government task, but also involving all citizens of Indonesia. "Unification of mindset, attitude, and concern for harmony with nature by society contributes to the successful management of natural resources," Head of Computing Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering,explained.
In a speech Indonesia’s Natural Resources Management based on Technology Innovation and Local Wisdom", Arief reminds that processing of natural resources is the field of chemical engineering. Thus, it is natural that this group of subjects was included in the curriculum. Consequently, in addition to the subjects group with the introduction of organic and inorganic natural resources as well as natural resource-based industries, it would need to introduce courses related to natural resource management ethics and sustainable development laws.
Ethics courses are intended so that the management of natural resources suits the current rational needs and responsible for the welfare of future generations. "Of course, the course of environmental ethics, science and technology ethics, and development ethics can be an alternative," said the husband of Ir. Asri Budiani, and the father of Dhimas Rahardian and Nurina Vidya.